Georgia Water Coalition partners
and friends had a huge victory for the Savannah River in an initial legal
effort to prevent two more nuclear reactors from being built at Southern
Companyís Plant Vogtle. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissionís
three-judge panel ruled that the citizen groups can intervene into the
proceeding to argue on two water-related issues.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing
Board concluded that threats to the Savannah River and surrounding
environment need to be further examined by Southern Company.

This includes concerns about
the impacts on the river of withdrawing large amounts of water from the
river and the resulting thermal discharge, or heated water, from the
proposed reactors. Of special concern are two fish species found in the
Savannah: the shortnose sturgeon, a federally protected endangered species,
and the robust redhorse, a rare fish that until recently was considered
extinct. The groups argued that Southern Company did not acknowledge the
impacts that the additional reactors would have on the fish and river
ecosystem. The proposed reactors would essentially double both the amount
of water being withdrawn and the amount of discharge going back into the
Savannah River.